


Steps

by JoshCo99



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Prose Poem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 07:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12053757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoshCo99/pseuds/JoshCo99
Summary: Step one, step two, step three, step four.Sirius Black steps through the door.





	Steps

Step one, step two, step three, step four,  
I walk up to the house, and open the door.

Step five, step six, step seven, step eight,  
I’m here, I’m here, but minutes too late.

Step nine, step ten, I step no more.  
I see my best friend, dead on the floor.

With a heavy heart, I take step nine,  
On the kitchen table, a half-bottle of wine. 

Step ten, step eleven, they come too fast,  
I look back and see a life, consigned to the past.

Step twelve, step thirteen, my heart beats hard,  
It’s for me, on the table. A birthday card.

Fourteen, then fifteen, I collapse to my knees,  
A tear on my cheek, but nobody sees.

I get to my feet, then take seventeen,  
Steps on the carpet, meticulously clean.

Eighteen,then nineteen, the tears flow free,  
I’m so sorry James, it should have been me.

Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, step again,  
Forgive me, my Lily, forgive me, my friend.

Twenty-four, twenty-five, I count in my head,  
I step with my feet, weighted with lead.

Twenty-six, twenty-seven, I arrive at the room.  
The scent of magic speaks only of doom.

I step once more, my foot edges in,  
This cost too much to be called on a win.

Twenty-nine comes next, and I see him there,  
Voldemort is gone, though it doesn’t feel fair.

Thirty, I stop. My grey find her green,  
Left open by the curse, still fierce and keen.

I collapse to my knees, and I feel dread grief,  
The sob of a child, a life still brief.

In the corner I see, crouched there is the cat.  
A hatred burns in me for that bastardous rat.

In my arms, I take Harry, still crying for mum.  
It pains me to think that she’ll never come.

I begin my walk down, and take step thirty-one,  
The rest follow suit, as I cradle his son.

James Potter is there, Lily Potter above,  
And lying with her, he who never knew love.

Hatred burns through me; my tears hurt my cheeks,  
The seconds feel like hours, the minutes like weeks.

Hagrid is here, he bursts through the frame,  
He’s crying, I notice, and I do the same.

I collapse on his shoulder, and the tears flow thick,  
He takes Harry from me. My stomach feels sick.

And then only darkness. I collapse on the floor.  
I dream once more, of walking through that door.


End file.
